Super Bowl Betting Guide

The biggest betting day of the year is almost here: Super Bowl LIV! With almost $150 million legally wagered on the game annually, it’s a bonanza for professional and novice bettors alike, with a myriad of different ways to bet and things to bet on. Whether it’s something as simple as who’s going to win or how many points will be scored, or as obscure as how long the National Anthem will be or will a fan run on to the field, 888Sport is the place to go for all of the latest NFL betting lines, including  Super Bowl betting lines, prop bets, MVP odds, and more.

 

To get ready for the game, here’s a handy guide to some of the most popular bets available so you’ll have more opportunities to choose from when looking for that winning bet.

 

• Intro to Super Bowl betting
• Basic Bets
  • Moneyline
  • Point spread
  • Over/Under bets (Combined score)
• Prop bets
• Parlay bets
• Live Betting

---

Intro to Super Bowl Betting

 

The Super Bowl. The biggest sporting event of the year. A time when family and friends gather together to watch the two best teams in the NFL battle it out. A time to watch really expensive TV commercials which you can’t really understand who it’s for. A time to see aging musicians flocked by hundreds of extras dancing around to 45 second versions of their hit songs. And most importantly, a time to bet on all of that.

 

Yes, in addition to it being the biggest sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl is also the biggest betting event of the year. And to get you ready for the big day, we’ve prepared a guide to different Super Bowl bets you can make, what they’re called, and how to make them. Since the two teams haven’t been determined yet, let’s just pretend that a miracle occurred and Super Bowl LIV is going to be the Houston Oilers against the St Louis Rams. So without further ado, let’s start with the most basic.

 

---

Basic Bets

1. Moneyline

The most basic of bets, Moneyline bets are where you choose who will win the game, based upon the Super Bowl betting lines on 888Sport. So, for example, you’d see this as the Super Bowl Moneyline:

 

Houston Oilers:           -115

St Louis Rams             +105

 

What does that mean? Well, the favorites will always have the minus (-) sign, while the underdogs will have the plus (+) sign. The number next to the negative numbers indicates how much you must wager to win $100 on the favorite, while for a plus number it shows you how much you can win if you wager on the underdog. 

 

So in this case, the Oilers are favored, but not by much. Not all games have Moneylines this tight, but Super Bowls are usually pretty evenly matched. (If you want to see an example where a team is favored by a lot, take the NY Jets versus the Baltimore Ravens game from earlier this year, when the odds were Jets (+550) and Ravens (-885). That meant that if the Jets won, your hundred dollar bet would get you $550 (net $650), while you’d have to put up a whopping $885 just to win $100 for a Ravens win.)

 

 

 

2. Point Spread

Just to add a little more intrigue to the game, the point spread was created to spark interest in a game even if a game is weighted heavily in one team’s favor in Moneyline. Being the point spread, it is, you guessed it, based on points. So, our Super Bowl point spread would look like this:

 

Houston Oilers:           -3.5 (-120)

St Louis Rams             +3.5 (-120)

 

Let’s look at the +-/ 3.5 numbers first. 

Again the favorites have the minus, while underdogs have the +. In this instance, bookmakers think that the Oilers will win by 3.5 points. Since there are no half points in football, the .5 is just a way of saying that if you take the Oilers to win by 4 or more, you win. If it is 3 or less, then you lose. Same goes for the underdog. If you take the almighty Rams to lose by 4 or more, you win. If it’s close and they lose by3 or less, or by some miracle, they win, then, well, you lose.

 

That weird (-120) isn’t the same as the Moneyline. In fact, it’s titled something much cooler than that. It is…the juice. We won’t go into it in too much depth, but it is basically the surcharge the bookmaker places on point spread bets. The lower the number in parentheses after a point spread, the better for the bettor.

 

3. Over/Under (Combined Score bets)

Think it’ll be an offensive battle? Or a defensive slugfest? You can also make a bet on what you think the overall combined score of a game will be. The good thing about an Super bowl over under bet is that you don’t have to root for a specific team. In fact, you’ll be rooting for both teams to work together to give you the score you need to win. S how do you win? Let’s look at our Super Bowl over/under odds.

 

Over 44.5 +148

Under 44.5 -195

 

We still go by the rules of +/-, which means that if the Oilers overwhelm the Rams 35-10, making for a combined score of 45. If you bet the over 44.5, at +148, you would win $248. NOTE: if the game goes into overtime, the over/under is still the same. The number you bet on is the final score at the end of the game, be it regulation or overtime. 

 

4. Super Bowl MVP

In most games, the Super Bowl MVP odds will be stacked in favor of the big name positions. (Quarterbacks have won the honors 13 times over the past 20 years, with wide receivers hoisting it 4 times.) So for our Super Bowl, we might hear “I’m going to Disneyland!” from Warren Moon or Kurt Warner. But there’s always a chance a defensive player might put up a big game and take home the trophy, as Von Miller, Malcolm Smith, and Ray Lewis have done.)

 

Find 888sport NJ latest Superbowl betting odds here

 

---

Prop Bets

 

Now that you’ve got the basics down, it’s time for the fun stuff! Super Bowl prop bets have gotten more and more outlandish and fun through the years, and Super Bowl prop bets are some of the best around. While every year has a different set of prop bets, here are some of the most popular as well as some of our favorites from recent years.

 

Player/Position Props

There are a huge amount of bets you can make revolving around specific players and position groups. With our Oilers/Rams game, you can make bets like:

• • Total passing yards for Kurt Warner
  • Result of Warren Moon first passing attempt 
  • Which QB will have the most passing yards
  • Who will have the most rushing yards 
  • Longest reception- Billy Johnson
  • Will there be a safety in the 2^nd half
  • Which player will score the first touchdown
  • Which player will score the last touchdown
  • Who has most punts

Touchdown/Field Goal Props

Another huge batch of Super Bowl prop bets come in the form of when and how touchdowns will be scored. Bets can be made such as:

• Which team scores the first touchdown
• Which team scores the first field goal
• Length of the first touchdown
• Exact number of touchdowns by Oilers/Rams/both teams
• Will there be a defensive touchdown
• Will there be a safety
• Distance of first field goal
• Longest made field goal

 

Coin Toss

Needless to say, with this Super Bowl prop bet, the odds are even both ways, and if they aren’t, then something is seriously wrong. You can bet on:

• • Heads or Tails
  • Who will win the toss. 

 

National Anthem

Whoever sings it, there will be some serious odds put against it if past years are any indication. Some Super Bowl prop bets  can place on the National Anthem include:

• • How long will it take to sing
  • Will they forget/omit a word
  • Will any scoring drive take less time than the anthem

 

Halftime Show

With Jennifer Lopez and Shakira slated to co-headline, there should be plenty of fun Super Bowl prop bets  to make on the halftime show. In the past there has been bets such as:

• • How many songs will be performed?
  • What will be the first song sung?
  • Will there be a special appearance? 
  • Will Shakira wear a half shirt?

Gatorade Shower

One of our favorite bets revolves around the post-game tradition of pouring Gatorade on to the winning coach’s head. The bet revolves around exactly what color the Gatorade will be. In the past it’s looked like this:

• • Lime/Green/Yellow +250
  • Orange +350
  • Red +750
  • Clear/Water +160
  • Blue +400
  • Purple +1200

Exotic Bets

The name says it all, as Exotic bets are a mish-mash of random, weird bets that are both silly and near impossible to predict. Some past examples are:

• Total Donald Trump tweets during game
• Will a fan run on to the field
• How many commercials will there be
• Will they say the age of the coach
• Which commercial will appear first
• Will a player be ejected

Find 888sport NJ latest Superbowl betting odds here

---

Parlay Bets

Parlay bets are the Exacta bets of the sports betting world. You’re able to bet on a few different things at the same time, but they all have to hit in order to win. Needless to say, your payoff will be much bigger if you hit on all of them, but then again, the odds grow longer the more bets you string together in one parlay.

 

So when making a Super Bowl parlay bet, what can you pair, or parlay, together? Well, whatever you choose! Last year, a guy turned a random $2 parlay into a $1000 win because he combined two random bets into one parlay: that Tom Brady’s first pass would result in an interception, and that there would be no touchdowns in the first half. Boom! Winner! 

 

There are a number of different, more complex parlay bets that experienced bettors sometimes use, including round robin, reverse and teaser bets. If you’re not already familiar with these types, it’s best to stick with the more straightforward ways to win, or you or do your research before placing them. 

 

 

---

Live Betting 

While some like to place their bets and then sit back and enjoy the game with their feet up and a beer in hand, others like to stay involved and continue working on bets as the game progresses. Live betting has become more and more popular as more people have access to online betting through sites like 888Sport, especially Super Bowl Live Betting.

 

Sportsbooks will not only adjust the Moneyline, over/under, and total points scored odds throughout the game, you’ll also be able to calculate how a game is going and place new wagers based on your gut. Think the Rams are looking to run more against a slow Oilers D? Put a bet on Marshall Faulk being the next to score. Warren Moon looking nervous? Bet that he’ll throw an interception.

 

 

 

Even better, live betting keeps games interesting, long after one team might be running away with it. 

 

We hope this has been a fun introduction to Super Bowl betting! Good luck and be sure to visit 888Sport for all your Super Bowl betting odds.

 

 

 

 *Credits to the photos of this article belong to Mark Humphrey/Associated Press, Julio Cortez/Associated Press, Gregory Payan/Associated Press, Patrick Semansky/Associated Press, Eric Gay/Associated Press